Law enforcement officials from around the area will be participating in the enforcement of the state’s primary seatbelt law, with help from the Minnesota State Patrol.

The south-central region of Minnesota falls below the state average for seatbelt use compliance, 73% versus 90% compliance statewide. Last year, Minnesota saw a record-high 92% compliance rate. Twenty-five years before that the compliance rate was only 20%.

Officials say not wearing seatbelts costs about $366-million in health care expenses and lost labor every year and about 80 percent of fatal or serious injury crashes involve people not wearing their seatbelts.

The latest “Click It Or Ticket” enforcement effort will run through October 27th.